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This is a Golden Age for health care. But at the same time new treatments and cures are being developed, Americans are properly concerned about costs. How can the health care system continue to innovate while providing value?
 
To make the best decisions, policy makers and the public need the facts. That is where we come in. With numerous links to research and media reports, Cost-of-Health-Care News is an online publication that provides news and analysis of who is paying how much for what – and why. 

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Our Newsletter


Issue No. 68: Is Rebate Reform Finally Final?


​With only weeks left in its tenure, the Trump Administration’s ambivalence toward pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) appears to have been resolved at last. On Nov. 20, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) “finalized a regulation to eliminate the current system of drug rebates.”

The finalizing took awhile. In a Rose Garden speech back in May 2018, President Trump used brutal language to condemn “the dishonest double-dealing that allows the middleman to pocket rebates and discounts that should be passed on to consumers and patients.” But it took until Feb. 6, 2019, for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to place a proposed PBM rebate rule in the Federal Register. Azar, in a speech on June 13, said he would end a system that “pushes prices perpetually higher.”

But just a month later, on July 11, 2019, the White House announced a sudden change of mind: “Based on careful analysis and thorough consideration, the president has decided to withdraw the rebate rule.” Almost precisely a year later, the rebate plan was revived when President Trump on July 24 signed four executive orders intended to “deliver lower prescription drug prices to American patients.” And on Nov. 30, the 148-page final rule was published in the Federal Register. It is presented as a revision of the original proposed rule of February 2019. Major parts would go into effect as soon as Jan. 29, 2021. The final version varies only slightly from the original proposal.

Read More Here.

What Others Are Saying


"The anger directed at the pharmaceutical and biotech industries overall is misdirected. The single biggest driving force for increased health-care spending in the U.S. is the rising cost of labor, not drugs."

- 
Michael Mandell of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI):
"Even if pharmaceutical spending were rising as a share of total health care spending, but that rise was due to pharmaceutical investments driving down expenditures in other health care areas (e.g. a reduced need for more expensive surgeries), then it would still be inaccurate to argue that pharmaceutical spending is driving overall health care inflation."

-
Wayne Weingarten of the Pacific Research Institute

Newsletter Archive

Issues 46 - Current
​

NEW!!! Issue No. 68. December 29, 2021
Is Rebate Reform Really Final?


Issue No. 67 December 16, 2020
Memo to New Administration: Heed KFF Report That Says Drugs Not 'Primary Culprits' in Health Costs

Issue No. 66 November 24, 2020
Developing, Manufacturing, and Deploying The Vaccines to Keep Us Safe From COVID-19


Issue No. 65 October 1, 2020
Index Pricing Re-Emerges, in an Even More Virulent Form


Issue No. 64 August 20, 2020
Five Ways the Trump Administration Can Help Cut Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs Now


Issue No. 63 August 4, 2020
With Fanfare, White House Issues Four Orders on Drug Prices, But  What Would They Actually Mean?


Issue No. 62: July 9, 2020
The Right Way to Fight Superbugs


Issue No. 61: June 18, 2020
ICER, Which Assesses Value of Drugs, Finds Its Own Values Under Significant Criticism


Issue No. 60: February 20, 2020
​Dozens of New Drugs  Approved Last Year: What All the Innovation Is Telling Us


Issue No. 59: January 30, 2020
Cancer Death Rate Registers a Record Decline; Reminder That Drugs Have Massive Benefit as Well as Costs


Issue No. 58: January 9, 2020
Rebate Reform, Suddenly Dropped by the White House, May Be Convincing Enough for a Comeback


Issue No. 57: December 19, 2019
For Cost Containment Policy Makers At Last Turning Towards Hospitals


Issue No. 56: December 11, 2019
Study Shows How Prescription Drugs Can Be Key to Constraining Other Health Care Costs

Issue No. 55: November 14, 2019
'March-In' to Nowhere


Issue No. 54: October 29, 2019
How to Fulfill the Promise of Biosimilars


Issue No. 53: October 8, 2019
Comparing US Health Costs With the Rest of the World


Issue No. 52: September 19, 2019
Trade Deals Can Narrow Drug Price Gap With Europe, Protect U.S. Intellectual Property


Issue No. 51: August 12, 2019
Distortions About Drug Prices Impede Health Care Debate


Issue No. 50: July 23, 2019
Senate Plan for Medicare Price Controls Raises Ire, But Benefit Redesign Is Broadly Attractive


Issue No. 48: June 27, 2019
Time to Cap Medicare Part D Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs?


Issue No. 47: June 13, 2019
Major Issues With the International Pricing Index


Issue No. 46: May 31, 2019
Where the Cost Savings Are: Hospitals

Issues 26-45
​

Issue No. 45: May 10, 2019
SPECIAL UPDATE - Rebates Redux: Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Reform


Issue No. 44: April 25, 2019
The Myth and the Danger of Importing Drugs to the United States


​Issue No. 43: April 12, 2019
Administration Moves Swiftly to End the Opaque System of Rebates

Issue No. 42: March 27, 2019
A Busy Time on the Pricing Front


Issue No. 41: February 28, 2019
PBMs Under Attack


Issue No. 40: February 13, 2019
Government Statistics and Express Scripts Data Show Drug Prices Fell in 2018. That's Hard For Media and Politicians to Acknowledge.


Issue No. 39: January 17, 2019
Where are Health Costs Rising Most?
Hospitals. And Here is Why.


Issue No. 38: December 20, 2018
Dangerous Target Practice: Taking Aim at Drug Patents


Issue No. 37: December 4, 2018
The Truth About Drug Prices: They're Rising Less Than Inflation


Issue No. 36: November 8, 2018
The Right Way and the Wrong Way to End Disparity Between U.S. and European Drug Prices


Issue No. 35: October 25, 2018
A Surprisingly Simple Way to Save Lives and Money

Issue No. 34: October 9, 2018
Are ICER and the QALY the Right Way to Manage Access to Live-Saving Medicines?


Issue No. 33: August 28, 2018
How Much Do We Spend on Pharmaceuticals? Research Clarifies Answer to Complex Question


Issue No. 32: July 31, 2018
The U.S. is Developing Innovative Medicines in Abundance, to Fight Cancer and More


Issue No. 31: June 5, 2018
Taking Dead Aim at the Role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers in Raising Drug Costs (Plus the Gag Rule and More on 340B)


​Issue No. 30: May 8, 2018
A Day of Reckoning Approaches for 340B, the Controversial Drug Pricing Programs


Issue No. 29: April 19, 2018
Narrowing the Gap Between U.S. and Foreign Drug Costs


Issue No. 28: March 22, 2018
Redesign Insurance Plans and Reduce the Threat of High Drug Costs

Issue No. 27: March 1, 2018
Making Sense of Health Spending

Issue No. 26: February 12, 2018
Smallest Increase in Drug Spending in a Quarter-Century

Issues 1-25
​

Issue No. 25: January 23, 2018
For $70 a Year, Drug Innovation Is a Bargain


Issue No. 24: December 21, 2017
Spending on Drugs Rises 1.3% (Yes, 1.3%)


Issue No. 23: December 4, 2017
Biosimilars Hold Hope for Lowering Drug Costs and Improving Patient Access, but Challenges Surface


Issue No. 22: November 20, 2017
Rising Minimally: That’s the Non-Fake News About Drug Prices


Issue No. 21: October 10, 2017​​
What It Costs to Make a Pill
​

​Issue No. 20: September 18, 2017
The ‘Deleterious Consequences’ of Popular Insurance Designs


Issue No. 19: August 28, 2017
Focus on Where the Spending Is: Hospitals

Issue No. 18: August 15, 2017
To Lower Health-Care Costs, America Has to Reduce Unhealthy Behaviors

Issue No. 17: July 20, 2017
Debunking the Mythology of Drug Costs

Issue No. 16: June 22, 2017
Importing Medicines Creates Broad Threats to Public Safety

Issue No. 15: June 12, 2017
The Lessons of Part D's Success

Issue No. 14: May 31, 2017
Misplaced Incentives Raise Cost of Administering Drugs in Hospitals Sky-High

Issue No. 13: May 11, 2017
The Truth about PBMs

Issue No. 12: April 27, 2017
Government-Negotiated Drug Prices: Another Bad Idea Bubbles Up from the Depths

​Issue No. 11: April 18, 2017
Importing Drugs: Safety Risks, Less Access, and Little or No Savings

​Issue No. 10: March 30, 2017
The States as Drug-Price Regulators: A Bad Idea That's Catching On


Issue No. 9: March 15, 2017
Drug Prices Rise 2.5%; That's the Same as Inflation


Issue No. 8:  March 2, 2017
Is the Problem Health Care, Or Is It Health?


Issue No. 7:  February 15, 2017
Financial Effects of ACA on Health-Care Sector


Issue No. 6:  February 2, 2017
Americans Have Greater Access to New Medicines for Cancer


Issue No. 5:  January 19, 2017
How Industry Concentration Affects Health Costs


Issue No. 4:  January 5, 2017
Surprising Revelations in a Deep Dive on Health Costs


Issue No. 3:  December 21, 2016
Rising Health Costs: How to Hold Them Down by Broadening Our Thinking


Issue No. 2:  December 14, 2016
New Reports on Health Spending Need Context


Issue No. 1:  November 30, 2016
Study Shows U.S. Health System Often Delivers Less for More
Cost-of-Health-Care News (CHCN) was launched on November 30, 2016, with the aim of providing news and analysis regarding a critical public-policy concern:  the costs and pricing of health care.  CHCN is published by EAH Strategies,  headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich. CHCN is supported by Pfizer.
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